All You Need Is Love
by scoutfinches
Summary: It's 1967, the summer of love, and a lot has changed in Tulsa. So much so, in fact, that Cherry and Ponyboy feel they need a change of scenery.
1. Chapter 1

_It's almost impossible to believe how much has changed in just a few years._

Being handed my high school diploma was an experience I'll never forget. Everyone was cheering in the stands for me when I walked up to the principal and shook his hand.

Darry, Sodapop, and Cherry. _Especially_ Cherry.

My heart was beating fast and my palms were becoming sweaty; I almost panicked as I shook the principal's hand.

"Sorry, sir." I told him sheepishly.

Shy laughter came from the stands.

"It's all right, Mr. Curtis. It's perfectly a-okay! Congratulations, young man! You just graduated high school!" The diploma was thrust in the wrong hand, and the loudest claps of the night came from the crowd.

After graduation was over, we took a few quick pictures and headed to the diner for a late night dinner.

"I can't believe it, little bud! You've graduated high school!" Sodapop smacked me on the shoulder.

"I know." I replied, felling guilty about the fact that he never got to graduate; that it was my fault he didn't.

"Don't worry about it." He drank his soda, staring at Cherry and I almost silently. "So, you've got a chance to get outta here, don't you?"

"Yes." Cherry answered for me, "I wanted to stay with him, Soda. I didn't want to to head off without him."

"Where do ya' wanna go?"

We shrugged our shoulders.

"If I had the chance, I'd go to California." Cherry said, looking straight into my eyes.

I had no clue until then, but the way her eyes lit up just at the thought of it made me agree.

After our quiet dinner, Cherry and the rest of my family went to my house. It was just the same as it had been since we lost Johnny and Dallas, and it was also the same way it was when Cherry lost her once beloved Bob.

It was the only thing in Tuscaloosa that remained the same. Our hangouts and even our diner were made to fit the decade. Socs and Greasers had become hippies and smartalecs; the skirts and hair of girls became longer, and the boys snipped away their hair and shed their leather like an animal would shed it's fur coat.

We all arrived to my house late at night, and we all laid down and slept. Cherry was on the sofa, Darry was alone in his room, and Soda was with me. Our bed was small, crowded, and the only once of childhood I felt I had left with me.

"Are you really goin' to Cali?" Soda stared at the ceiling, watching the shadows from the bright moonlight.

"Yeah. But I'm not going without you. Or Darry. We're family and we've gotta stick together." I mumbled, truthfully, but half asleep.

"We said that to Two-Bit and Steve.. That didn't work out."

"Well, Steve ran away, remember? We were given no choice with Two-Bit. We'll see if they'll give him back. None of this is our fault, Soda. It's time. And time is change and time is-"

"Enough with your rambling! You're a writer even when you're asleep!" Soda crossed his arms underneath the sheets, "Ever since Cherry came back, you've changed."

I agreed. And I told him that. "But that doesn't mean I'll ever lose you. It doesn't mean I'll ever let you go. We'll track down Steve and we'll make our case for Two-Bit. He ain't insane, Soda. They think he is, but he ain't! He just loves Mickey, that's all!"

"They said he had autism and put 'im away..."

"Then they shouldn't have." I said, "I know better than that. There's loonies running around, but yet, Two-Bit's gone.. That's just wrong."

"You're right, Pony. Now, let's get some sleep. Maybe we'll go in July. And see the sunshine, huh?"

"Yeah." It was quiet for a while, and I wanted to sleep with Soda and I on good terms, so I sang one last song. "I need to laugh, and when the sun is out, I've got something I can laugh about-"

"Pony, they ain't tough!"

I chuckled and kept going, "I'm in love and it's a sunny day.."

Before I knew it, we created our own little chorus.

"Good day sunshine! Good day sunshine! Good day sunshine!"

 _And I swore to God, I heard Cherry laughing outside our door._


	2. Chapter 2

_It only got more and more hot out as the month passed by._

As the hands on the clock spun, more and more papers were sent to the state regarding Two-Bit, and the state sent back nothingness.

"He he tried to _kill_ a man, and there's nothing we can do to send him back."

The director of the facility was so tired of us trying to bring back our friend, he sent us a simple, angry, informal letter.

Cherry's heart pounded when she held it in her hands, and she ran straight into my arms.

"We're getting out of here." She shivered. _"Now."_

We knew this man couldn't be further from the truth, and there was nothing we could do about Two-Bit.

Or was there? On that sweltering July day, we finally sped off out of Tusacaloosa, and past the Oklahoma boundaries. We thought about Two-Bit and the news of impending war on the radio.

We feared for the worst; Cherry changed the station.

It was The Beatles again.

" _They ain't tough!_ "

It wasn't a song we ever heard before, and we tuned into it, turning the radio as loud as we could.

 _"There's nothing you can do that can't be done."_

My heart leaned in the opposite direction; there was no way to save our friend. There was no way to turn back for my brothers. It was impossible,

 _"Nothing you can sing that can't be sung."_

Cherry's voice wasn't singing along to this song. She knew none of the words.

 _"Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game."_

Cherry was in the driver's seat, and I felt we both wondered the same thing.

 _The game of life?_

None of us succeeded. Nobody got out safe, and nobody had it easy.

Johnny lost all of his cards due to his selflessness. Dallas rolled snake eyes due to his loyalty. My parents lost due to their own caution; I lost my innocence. Cherry lost her identity. Steve lost his footing, and sadly, in an ironic twist, Two-Bit failed a simple test.

A test simulated with unfair questions. A simple act to scare a man away turned into a real flesh and blood fight. Two stabs in the chest for each man resulted in a criminal offense and a life in institution.

To prove sanity in both ends, each man had to taken a spoken test. The Soc man, the one who started the fight, passed. Two-Bit failed.

The game of life wasn't at all a game anyone won. And I knew that the ring burning a hole in my pocket wouldn't make things much easier.

 _"It's easy."_

A hitchhiker adorned in scrubs lifted his thumb high up in the air. Cherry pulled over a little ways away and summoned the man to the car.

He hobbled into the back seat, brushing his hair back and taking a deep breath.

"Hey, Pony." The man said. With his face covered in stubble, I had absolutely no clue who he was. Then, it hit me.

"Two-Bit! How'd you get out?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "All you need is love. I knew you wanted me back, and I made sure I'd do it for ya'. Remember what you told me earlier... About Sherri."

He was the only one I could trust with the ring, and as the Beatles repeated themselves on the radio, it felt like the perfect time to ask.

"Cherry, will you marry me?"

The world has begun to spin around me instead of around the sun. Her shock and her laughter along with Two-Bit's presence, made me feel more alive than I ever had before.

"Yes!" She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a big kiss on the lips. She slid the red ruby in her finger and then kept on driving again, right on forward to California.

 _"There's nothing you can know that isn't known. Nothing you can see that isn't shown. There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be, It's easy."_

Seeing the world flash by, I figured I agreed.

 _"All you need is love."_


End file.
